NFL Week 12 – Syndication Server

How every former Wisconsin Badger performed in NFL Week 12 2023

Week 12 of the NFL season is complete, as Thanksgiving has moved into the rear-view and the final of the stretch of the season is imminent.

It was a Sunday, and Thursday, dominated by former Wisconsin Badgers yet again. Colts RB Jonathan Taylor ran his team to a comeback victory, Broncos QB Russell Wilson led his group to its sixth straight victory, a pair of Steelers linebackers got to the quarterback with ease and Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards led a turnover party.

There aren’t any nuggets to share better than Dare Ogunbowale kicking a go-ahead field goal. But it was still an eventful weekend for Wisconsin products in the NFL.

Here is how each of them performed:

Saints report card: How New Orleans graded in Week 12 loss vs. Falcons

Safeties receive the highest grade on the team, while the defensive line and linebackers graded poorly in our Week 12 Saints report card:

The New Orleans Saints lost to the Atlanta Falcons and many things went wrong. It wasn’t all bad, though, as some positions performed well on Sunday.

Here’s a letter grade for each position group after reviewing their performance:

The top defensive players in Tampa Bay’s loss to Indianapolis, per PFF

Pro Football Focus had these defensive players standing out in an otherwise rough defensive performance.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a vaunted “grave-diggers” defense for a short while from 2020-21, but those days appear to have already passed the team by.

The Bucs have one of the worst defenses in football since coming back from their bye week, often getting shredded in the passing game week by week. The team is usually staunch through the run game, but that wasn’t the case in its Sunday loss to the Indianapolis Colts, as the Colts put up three rushing touchdowns and dominated behind running back Jonathan Taylor. Despite that, there were some defensive splash plays, and Pro Football Focus reflected that a little bit when grading the team for the game.

Here are the 10 highest-ranked Bucs defensive players in Week 12:

Where the Bucs rank statistically after Week 12

Naturally, Tampa Bay’s statistical rankings are dropping further as the team continues to lose.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were once among the top 10 of multiple statistical categories in the NFL, but after losing six of their last seven games, those days are firmly in the past.

There have been problems in Tampa Bay ever since the team returned from the bye week in Week 6, and they don’t show any signs of stopping. The team lost its Week 12 game to the Indianapolis Colts, and the game saw an offense that still isn’t quite clicking mixed with a defense that seems to find any way it can to give up yards. The Bucs are doing some things right — they’re still keeping teams out of the end zone once they hit the red zone and they don’ turn over the ball as much as other teams — but those things are few and far between.

Here is how the Bucs stack up to the rest of the league statistically, courtesy of Team Rankings:

WATCH: Highlights from Week 12’s Bucs vs. Colts matchup

From Mike Evans touchdowns to a Carlton Davis pick, check out the highlights from the Bucs’ most recent matchup.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may not have won, but like always, there were still quite a few highlight-worthy plays to observe from the Bucs.

From an interception from cornerback Carlton Davis to two touchdowns from Bucs wideout Mike Evans, there was quite a bit of potential from Tampa Bay on Sunday — and that’s part of what makes it so frustrating. The Bucs have shown glimpses of promise during the course of the year much like some of the work in this Indianapolis game, but mistakes and a lack of discipline have held the team back, and it did in Week 12 when the Bucs dropped their game to the Colts 27-20. Nonetheless, who doesn’t love to watch Mike Evans catch touchdown passes?

Check out the highlights from last Sunday’s game below:

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3 standout stars for Patriots in Week 12 loss to Giants

The Patriots failed to come away with a win on Sunday, but there were three standout stars that deserve recognition.

The New England Patriots are bad—like, real bad.

They are now in control of their own draft pick destiny. This week was a real barn burner of a game (sarcasm) with the Patriots dropping a 10-7 loss at MetLife Stadium to another brutally bad team.

The Patriots had a chance to send the game into overtime, but rookie kicker Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard field goal wide left to hand the New York Giants the victory.

As always, there were some bright spots for the Patriots, and there were at least three stars that shined in the game. Here are this week’s standout stars:

Bucs Report Card: How we graded Tampa Bay’s loss to Indianapolis in Week 12

The Bucs continue to be entirely unable to put together a complete game in all four quarters.

Light is fading fast for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after another rough loss in Week 12.

The Bucs dropped their game against the Indianapolis Colts 27-20 on Sunday, and it was a game marred with the very same issues that have largely plagued it for the entire year. The team can’t bring together every aspect to play a complete four quarters, and it’s a huge reason why it’s 4-7 and has won just a single game in its last seven tries.

Bucs Wire graded the team’s offense, defense, special teams and coaching in Week 12 — check out what we thought about the overall performance below:

Lions vs. Packers: What I learned from film review of Detroit’s Thanksgiving loss

Takeaways from the film study of the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Packers, a game Detroit lost from the very first play

Thanksgiving was a tough football meal to digest for the Detroit Lions. Losing 29-22 in Ford Field to the Green Bay Packers in a turkey of a game ruined the holiday buzz.

I delayed this week’s film study and lessons learned from it a little to make sure the bad taste of the loss was out of my mouth and not overly clouding my judgment. It turns out that the leftover helping of All-22 didn’t make it taste any better. In fact, I feel even worse about the way the Lions played now after studying it more.

Here’s what I took away from the film study of the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Packers.

Bengals snap count takeaways from loss to Steelers

A look at the snap counts from the Week 12 loss.

The Cincinnati Bengals turned in a snap count sheet without Joe Burrow at 100 percent of the chances for the first time this season on Sunday.

There, a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was backup Jake Browning joining the 100 percent club.

Here’s a look at some snap count takeaways from the loss:

Trenton Irwin quietly had 72 percent of the snaps with Tee Higgins out. Rookie Andrei Iosivas got 33 percent.
Joe Mixon dominated the running back touches (merely eight carries) at 65 percent. Rookie Chase Brown, freshly activated from IR, didn’t get a chance.
Four tight ends received usage on the day, with Drew Sample (44 percent) just fending off Irv Smith Jr. (37).
Dax Hill and DJ Turner were the only 100 snap players on the defense, fueling that youth movement.
Chidobe Awuzie seems all the way back from the early season back issue, given his 96 percent of the snaps. They’ve missed the veteran leadership back there.
Rookie safety Jordan Battle indeed got the big promotion, playing 83 percent of the snaps to Nick Scott’s 20 percent.
First-rounder Myles Murphy got 31 percent of the snaps but made some notable pressure-creating plays.

The full list:

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Texans TE Brevin Jordan took more fourth quarter snaps than Dalton Schultz

The snap counts indicate that Brevin Jordan saw more playing time with the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter of Week 12 than did Dalton Schultz.

The unique self-centeredness of fantasy football can still be beneficial to the framework of rooting for any one of the NFL’s 32 teams. With the amount of stats that fantasy managers track, they are bound to find trends that could help fans.

According to Nathan Jahnke from Pro Football Focus, one trend that seems to be developing on the Houston Texans is third-year Brevin Jordan getting snaps over six-year veteran Dalton Schultz, who signed a one-year contract in free agency.

Jordan had 16-of-20 tight end snaps, and just one short of Schultz’ 22 snaps in 11 personnel. The former Dallas Cowboys 2018 fourth-rounder was playing over 10 times more snaps in 11 personnel than Jordan over the previous 11 weeks, according to Jahnke.

Fantasy managers would no doubt want to keep tabs on the situation. However, it would be a fascinating position battle for Texans fans to watch to see if one of their younger players can solidify a starting spot. Jordan caught one pass for nine yards on two targets compared to Schultz’s one for two on two targets.

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